When I heard that the Baltimore Orioles’ 2010 first-round pick and third overall selection Manny Machado was going to be playing for the Aberdeen IronBirds for several games once the Gulf Coast League ended its season, I was really excited that arguably the top shortstop prospect in all of baseball would be coming to Aberdeen, where my dad and I have had a nine-game season ticket plan for eight years.
There was just one problem: I was going down to College Park for the start of my sophomore year of college at the same exact time that Machado — and other prospects — were coming to Aberdeen for a brief time to close out their seasons. So, I thought I wouldn’t get to see Machado, but my dad would. Good for my dad, bad for me.
Anyway, I decided to come home this weekend for my sister’s birthday and it just so happened that our final game at Aberdeen this season was this weekend, too. So when I walked in my house and found the tickets for Saturday night’s game, I got excited. Real excited. I was going to see Machado, who is the most highly touted prospect ever to play for Aberdeen, even in front of established big leaguer Nick Markakis.
Not only that, but my dad and I were going to be treated to an Aberdeen roster that, from what I recall, had never been so loaded with prospects in our eight-year run of having a nine-game plan. The roster currently includes Machado, Dan Klein (pitcher, 2010 third rounder), Connor Narron (infielder, 2010 fifth rounder), Parker Bridwell (pitcher, 2010 ninth rounder) and Mychal Givens (infielder, 2009 second rounder.) I was pumped up to see them.
They didn’t disappoint in a 3-1 Aberdeen victory. Photos are below. I uploaded the photos to Facebook and copy and pasted them to the site, so don’t click on them because the photos link back to Facebook.
Above is the 18-year-old Narron at third base. He went 1-for-4 at the plate with a single, and made a throwing error at third.
Above is 25-year-old starting pitcher Tyler Sexton. He went six innings, giving up two hits and three walks while striking out five.
Above is the 20-year-old Givens at second base.
The photo above shows Givens connecting on a leadoff homer in the home half of the first inning. Givens finished 1-for-3 with the homer and a walk. Givens oozes of athleticism. I love his bat speed.
Above is Machado. He finished 2-for-3 on the night with a two singles and a walk. It looked to me like Machado had an advanced approach at the plate, as he was willing to take strikes and lay off the off-speed junk. Machado just turned 18 this past July.
Machado.
The above photo shows Machado sharply hitting a single to the opposite field with two strikes. On each of his singles, he was able to go get a pitch on the outside corner and drive it to the outfield — the first, to right field; the next, to center.
Machado in the on-deck circle.
Machado.
Above is Klein, who got the final four outs for Aberdeen to preserve the victory. He induced a long flyout off a hanging breaking ball for the final out in the eighth and struck out the side in the ninth for his first save as an IronBird.